Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Iraq’s Southern Front Babil Province Where The Islamic State Has Free Reign

Most of the attention on Iraq has been focused upon the
deteriorating security situation in Anbar in the west, and Ninewa and
Salahaddin in the north. In the south however in Babil province the insurgency has
been growing in strength since late-2013. The government has launched six
security operations in the northwest section of the governorate this year,
deployed militias there, and claimed success every time, but the sheer number
of offensives points to the failures of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). More
importantly the Islamic State (IS) has been able to use its bases in northern
Babil to connect with its forces in Anbar in its ultimate goal to surround and
move on the capital.

Jurf al-Sakhr in northwest Babil and the surrounding areas have become an Islamic State stronghold (IraqSlogger)

Despite what the central and provincial government has said northwestern
Babil has grown more violent for more than a year now. Back in October
2013 for example, there was a gunfight between the Iraqi Security Forces
(ISF) and 300 insurgents in Jurf al-Sakhr. That was a huge amount of fighters
rarely seen in Iraq at that time pointing to the strength of the militants
there. Events like those led the ISF to launch the first of many security
operations there on January 6, 2014. Insurgents responded by attempting
to assassinate the local police chief twice
at the end of the month. The regular security forces suffered heavy casualties
as well. For instance, on February 8 an army unit was ambushed
leading to one soldier being killed and 31 wounded. The next day
a car bomb targeted an army patrol causing the death of two soldiers and wounding six
including three soldiers. February 11 improvised explosive devices aimed at
checkpoints left two Federal Police
and two
soldiers dead and eleven Federal Police and eleven soldiers wounded.
Finally, eleven soldiers were killed and three wounded in a gun
battle on February
14. That was followed by six car bombs aimed at civilians in the third week
of the month that left 15 fatalities and 77 injured. Another suicide car bomb
in Hillah
on March
9 resulted in 50 dead and 160 wounded. By the end of the month there were demonstrations
against the deteriorating security situation in the province. A few days later
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the army to withdraw from the
area to re-group. The head of the security committee on the Babil council criticized the premier’s
decision, while sources told the press that the Jurf area had fallen to the
Islamic State. In mid-April Maliki replaced
the head of the Babil Operations Command. That set the stage for the second
security offensive that began that month. This time militias
were deployed to the northeastern section of the province to support the ISF.
At the beginning of May the Babil council complained
that not enough was being done to fight the insurgency, while on May
12 the police said Jurf al-Sakhr to Musayib was now free of militants. Then
on May 15 the third operation was
announced. Forces were deployed from Jurf
al-Sakhr to Iskandiriya. Three days later the Babil provincial police chief
claimed
the Jurf area was safe once again, followed by the Babil Operations Command
stating the same thing on May
23. Despite those statements the Iraqi Red Crescent noted that 800
families had fled the area due to the fighting, while the Islamic State posted
pictures on Twitter of a destroyed ISF convoy, captured equipment, and the
destruction of security checkpoints and installations using heavy equipment
such as cranes and bulldozers. That led to the 4th campaign on May 31,
and more statements about progress against the insurgents. After the fall of
Mosul in early June a 5th operation was started that included 1,500
volunteers. By June
22 the spokesman for Maliki’s Office of the Commander and Chief General
Qasim Atta said that Jurf was cleared once more, but the head of the Babil
security committee told the press that there were still some insurgents
there. June
28 fighting broke out there again, Maliki replaced the head of the Babil
Operations Command July 1
for the second time, General Atta repeated his claim that Jurf was cleared on July
3, while July
6 a tank battalion was sent to northern Babil for the sixth operation,
which started on July 8. The
fighting in the province mimics what has happened in Anbar. In both
governorates the ISF has launched operation after operation in the same areas
only to have the insurgents either fight off the army and police or re-infiltrate
the area later. Despite all the repeated statements northwest Babil is no more
secure today than it was before the first of six operations were launched
there. This points to the strategic failure of the security forces. They are a
reactive force that has lost the initiative to the militants, and cannot hold
any territory in Sunni areas like Jurf al-Sakhr no matter how many times they
might go in.

Captured HUMVEE in Jurf al-Sakhr by IS

Islamic State using cranes to dismantle a security checkpoint in Jurf al-Sakhr

ISF convoy ambushed and destroyed by IS in Jurf al-Sakhr

Captured members of the local Sahwa in Jurf al-Sakhr

Captured arms and munitions from the ISF

Security Incidents
Babil 2014

Attacks

Dead

ISF

Dead

Civilian

Dead

Wounded

ISF

Wounded

Civilian

Wounded

Jan

27

11

5

6

51

23

28

Feb

41

110

43

67

260

75

185

Mar

40

117

36

81

269

39

230

Apr

49

89

36

53

197

93

104

May

56

85

59

26

170

123

47

Jun

45

227

57

170

290

58

232

Total

258

639

236

403

1,237

411

826

Northern Babil is part of the Islamic State’s plan to
surround and attack Baghdad. Since 2013 IS has been rebuilding its networks and
cells in and around the capital into what are known as the Baghdad belts. The
Jurf al-Sakhr area represents the southern front. With its advances in Anbar,
IS has been able to move its forces back and forth between eastern Anbar and
northern Babil, while expanding into areas like Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad
and the rural areas surrounding Latifiya and Mahmudiya in northern Babil and
into southern Baghdad province as well. Babil has also been used to launch car
bombs into southern Iraq. The security forces have proven incapable of stopping
this expansion of the Islamic State’s influence. That opens the door for IS to
move closer to its ultimate goal of restarting the fighting in the streets of
the capital in its attempt to overthrow the government. That won’t be
successful because Baghdad is overwhelmingly Shiite, but if the ISF were
competent it could stop this from happening in the first place. Instead a sixth
futile operation has just gotten underway in northwest Babil as the IS moves
ahead with its plans.

Iraq History Timeline

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com